The second Steve Chantry stepped down as assistant track coach at Lafayette High last summer to follow his son’s collegiate running career, Rams’ head coach Melvin Jones put in a call to distance-running guru Drew Mearns.
Mearns, a renowned long-distance specialist with more than 50 years dedicated to the sport, had just wrapped up his sixth season as an assistant for Jamestown High’s track program. He was searching for a new phase in his career after the Eagles’ veteran coach Howard Townsend, the face of Jamestown’s program for more than a decade, decided to step down to accept an administrative position at York High.
“We had known each other for a long time, and when I told him I could use his help with a few of our boys’ runners who had the potential to do some great things, I think he saw it as a new challenge,” said Jones, who has been coaching track for about four decades. “He’s one of the best distances coaches you can find, and I mean anywhere.”
Lafayette has long boasted a strong distance program thanks to cross-country coach Craig Wortman and Chantry, but Jones said he believed Mearns could come in and take the program to a new level. Six months into his tenure with the Rams, Mearns is changing the philosophy of the whole program. With that philosophy, an experienced coaching staff and a deep talent pool, Lafayette’s boys indoor track and field team has its sights on not just Monday’s region title but also the state championship.
‘Checkup From the Neck Up’
Mearns’ career in competitive distance running stretches back to high school in Illinois, where he won state championships in cross-country and track. On a full scholarship at Yale University, Mearns became an all-time All-Ivy cross-country runner. After college, he continued his running career with the famed New York Athletic Club, Ohio Track Club and Kentucky’s Bluegrass Track Club, where he became the state champion in all three states.
After competing at the national level both as an individual and as part of relay teams, he earned his first college coaching position as a cross-country and track assistant at the University of Kentucky in 1975. Later, he took over as the head cross-country and assistant track coach at the University of Virginia.
During his coaching years, he also attended Kentucky’s graduate school and graduated from Virginia’s law school in 1979, which led to his professional career as distance running’s first agent. He represented world-famous track athletes such as Olympic champion Sebastian Coe, Alberto Salazar and Bill Rogers.
Mearns says his coaching philosophy, which focuses on the mental aspect of running rather than the physical, stems from his tenure as a competitive runner as well as a trainer for some of the most accomplished athletes in the world.
“Workouts are all over the Internet. What I’ve found is that, especially nowadays, runners at this level need as much if not more mental coaching than they do physical,” Mearns said. “You train your body in workouts and work on a routine or plan in practice, but your mind affects your performance more than anything.”
Mearns’ approach varies with each student, but says it all boils down to the “spiritual principle” of running and paying attention to the right things at the right times before, during and after races.
“His whole thing is what we like to call a ‘checkup from the neck-up,’ and that’s what a lot of these boys needed. … Once you believe it up here,” Jones said pointing to his head, “then it’s in your body, and he’s a firm believer in that. And our runners believe it because they see what it did for his kids.”
Mearns’ three oldest children, 25-year-old Erin, 23-year-old Andrew and 20-year-old Colin, each of whom he coached in high school, all earned Division I athletic scholarships following outstanding prep careers. His youngest daughters, 17-year-old twins Devon and Tia, will graduate from Jamestown High in June.
Continuing Success with the Rams
Lafayette’s distance runners say they’ve already benefited from Mearns’ services in less than one full season with the Rams program.
Senior Luke Tillis may not be commonly associated with Lafayette’s dominant core of distance runners like William and Mary-bound Kurtis Steck or junior cross-country champion Jason Menzies, but he epitomizes the impact Mearns has had in such short time with the Rams.
Junior standout Derek Holdsworth, who will contend for a state title in both the 300- and 500-meter dashes, said he noticed Tillis did not show much aggression when the two of them competed for a top seven spot on the cross-country team in the fall. But that has changed because of Mearns’ influence.
“I didn’t have a good cross-country season in the fall, but I’ve been improving gradually this [track] season, getting a lot of personal-best times, and Coach Mearns is the reason why,” Tillis said. “For me, personally, he just put everything in perspective, like my goals, my future, and realizing this is my last track season. … His training methods are great, but he’s really good at coaching the mental aspect of running, and that’s where I needed it most I think.”
Tillis, who will perform for the Rams on relay teams at regionals and the state meet, added that Mearns’ attention to detail and unique set of coaching techniques — such as taking six deep breaths before a race to increase your heart rate or rubbing peppermint oil under the nose to stay alert — instill a sense of confidence in his runners.
“I didn’t get our team any points [at states] last year, but I’m a lot more confident this season that I’m going to be able to help my team.”
Adding improved athletes like Tillis to a mix of talented distance runners and versatile stars like Holdsworth and Kwame Durant, the Rams believe this could be their year. A year ago they were close, with Lafayette’s boys finishing 10 points behind AA champ E.C. Glass at last year’s state meet in Blacksburg.
“We have a chance to do some damage at states,” Jones said. “Guys like Luke [Tillis] and Andrew [Roper] are continuing to come along, and that right there is a testament to what coach Mearns has done. … He’s been an ideal fit.”
